Kay Larson. Where The Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists. How very different the Western art world might have been—the structure of ideas, certainly, but also the structure of emotions, the hierarchy of belief—without the arrival in New York City in 1950 of a Japanese man who was “barely over five feet tall, and almost invariably[...] Read more

Books Andrew Hamlin Issue 114

ReR Megacorp. If there were ever an ironic name for a record label, it is ReR Megacorp. The label originally consisted of two separate operations: Re Records and Recommended records. These labels were set up in 1978 by the English avant-rock group Art Bears (formerly Henry Cow) and drummer Chris Cutler,[...] Read more

Recordings René van Peer Issue 114

Tin Hat. The Rain Is a Handsome Animal. The Rain Is a Handsome Animal is the first Tin Hat album to feature founding member and violinist Carla Kihlstedt as a singer. The seventeen tracks on this CD are settings of poems by E. E. Cummings. Although all four members have contributed compositions to this collection, the music carries[...] Read more

Recordings René van Peer Issue 114

Shackle. Shackle Stick and Shackle Multiplayer Music Game. Dutch duo Shackle has just released their USB music stick, which impresses with its high production values and design, typical of mainstream artists—Lady Gaga, for example, has produced USBs including video, music, and other enriched media. The Shackle Stick features audio and video of[...] Read more

Recordings Andrea Warren Issue 114

Pharaoh Sanders. In The Beginning: 1963–1964. This four-CD set features unreleased recordings of tenor horn player Pharaoh Sanders as he plays sets with Paul Bley and Don Cherry, plus two sets of Sanders with Sun Ra at Judson Hall, December 30 and New Year’s Eve, 1964. Also included in this set are recorded interviews with the[...] Read more

Recordings Andrew Hamlin Issue 114

Pauline Oliveros’ Eightieth Birthday Releases Pauline Oliveros. Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961–1970. Important Records IMPREC352. Pauline Oliveros. Primordial / Lift.Taiga Records 22. Deep Listening Band. Octagonal Polyphony. Important Records IMPREC358. Deep Listening Band. Great Howl at Town[...] Read more

Recordings René van Peer Issue 114

Joe Morris Quartet. Graffiti in Two Parts. Graffiti in Two Parts documents an exceptional moment in improvised music—a one-time performance by a loosely assembled band in 1985. In 1981 Boston guitarist Joe Morris met Lowell Davidson, an elusive figure in the history of free jazz, who had recorded a single CD as a pianist for the[...] Read more

Recordings Stuart Broomer Issue 114

Aaron Lumley. Wilderness. Aaron Lumley is a string bassist who recently moved to Montreal after some years of activity in the Toronto improvising community. Wilderness presents eight highly organic solo improvisations. In an accompanying note, Lumley compares his approach to wandering off a forest path for the chance to[...] Read more

Recordings Stuart Broomer Issue 114

Frank Lowe. The Loweski. This new release from ESP features the Frank Lowe Quartet in unreleased tracks that didn’t make it onto Lowe’s 1973 ESP release Black Beings. As a free-jazz set, The Loweski is distinguished by its silences, one helping each, at the beginning and end of the set, where the ensemble[...] Read more

Recordings Andrew Hamlin Issue 114

Fleshtone Aura. On Rusticated Slant. Similarly to his other group, Gastric Female Reflex, Andrew Zukerman’s Fleshtone Aura project is an act of cheeky historical revisionism. Evoking the rubbery tactile sonics of musique concrète through jump-cuts and slippery tape-speed bends, Zukerman’s pieces are also[...] Read more

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 114

Coat Cooke & Rainer Wiens. High Wire. The pairing of Coat Cooke and Rainer Wiens in High Wire, results in a performance of dualities. Complexity versus simplicity, density versus scarcity are all at play here. Wiens creates complex sound environments on eclectic guitars and thumb pianos while Cooke soars overhead with clear, clean[...] Read more

Recordings Randy Raine-Reusch Issue 114